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Tactics from the Acropolis 2003
Tournament in Athens

The traditional Acropolis tournament was held for the 18th time in Athens and ended on August 25th. It was staged in three groups: GMs, Men's and Women's Opens. A richly illustrated report by WGM Natalia Kiseleva appeared in our news pages last week.

Today we bring you a new pictures sent to us by Natalia. Between them you will find 16 tactical positions, all taken from the tournament, for you to solve. At the end of the report there is a PDF file of the tactial puzzles. You can print out and take it around with you, solving the problems in your spare time.

At the end of this page you will find a special puzzle concerning the youngest American-born chess player in history. Can you guess who that is?

One year before the Olympic Games in Athen


The main stadium in Athens, where the 2004 Olympic games will be held*

*After this page was published we were contacted by a Greek GM, Nigel Short, who informed us that the above picture was of the "Stadio", where the first Olympic Games of the moder era were held, in 1896. In the 2004 Olympic Games the Stadio (which is indicentally pronounced "stathio") may be used for the openings ceremony, but certainly not for the games. He know all of this because the Stadio is just fifteen minutes walking distance from his home.

(1) Schmaltz,R (2530) - Atalik,S (2599) [B56]
Athens Acropolis GM (4), 2003 [Easy]

White to play
Internet blitz king Roland Schmalz, a.k.a. "Hawkeye", is the exchange up and on the road to victory. How did he end the game with a lightning bolt?


The only German participant: GM Roland ("Hawkeye") Schmaltz

(2) Atalik,S (2599) - Tzermiadianos,A (2418) [D15]
Athens Acropolis GM (7), 2003 [Easy]

Black to play
Turkish/Bosnian GM Suat Atalik, a pawn up, has just played 23.Pf4-f5 to force the black knight into a humiliating retreat. But his Greek opponent suprised him with a move that won back the pawn and ultimately the game.


The view from the 21st story of the President Hotel, where the players stayed

(3) Parligras,M (2525) - Vouldis,A (2539) [B90]
Athens Acropolis GM (9), 2003 [Easy]

White to play
Romanian GM Mircea Parligras, who finished the tournament equal second, has a comfortable three-pawn advantage in this position. How did he finish the game with a few bold strokes?


The winners of the GM tournament: IM Athanassios Mastrovassilis (GRE, 4th),
IM Andreas Tzermiadianos (GRE, 3rd), GM Mircea Parligras (ROM, 2nd),
GM Vassilios Kotronias (CYP, 1st)

(4) Alexiou,A (1320) - Stavropoulou,E (1830) [C55]
Athens Acropolis WGM (3), 2003 [Easy]

Black to play
White is a pawn up but has neglected something no player should ever neglect.
How can Black best cash in on White's weakness?


WIM Luiza Khusnutdinova (RUS) vs WIM Elena Partac (MLD),
Anna Sharevich (BLR) and WGM Marina Makropoulou (GRE) in the background

(5) Sideris,T (2069) - Patriarheas,G (2088) [C15]
Athens Acropolis Open (5), 2003 [Easy]

White to play
Black has just moved his knight from b8 to c6, attacking the undefended pawn on e5.
How did White defend against the threat?


WIM Yelena Dembo (ISR) and WIM Anastasia Karlovich (UKR)

(6) Kotrotsos,V (2225) - Delithanasis,D (2259) [B28]
Athens Acropolis Open (7), 2003 [Easy]

Black to play
White is determined to fight for the e-file and has just played 26.Rc1-e1.
Why was this move terrible mistake?


Nino Khurtsidze looking after the daughter of Aikaterini Fakhiridou

(7) Johannessen,L (2525) - Vouldis,A (2539) [E99]
Athens Acropolis GM (1), 2003 [Medium]

Black to play
Leif Erlend, a piece up and with a fairly comfortably win, played 32.Pa5xPb6.
A terrible blunder that immediately cost him the game. How exactly?


GM Alik Gershon (ISR) and GM Boris Avrukh (ISR) with Avrukh's wife
in the middle, WIM Yelena Dembo (ISR) and Anna Sharevich (BLR)

(8) Makropoulou,M (2225) - Makka,E (2078) [C10]
Athens Acropolis WGM (3), 2003 [Medium]

White to play
Here White played a classical combination that nets him
at least two pawns (and the game). Can you work it all out in your head?


The GM section of the Acropolis 2003 tournament

(9) Kaza,P (2149) - Stiri,A (2172) [B42]
Athens Acropolis WGM (5), 2003 [Medium]

White to play
Black has invested a lot into her attack, but White finds an elegant way to defuse it.
How would you proceed in the above position?


Cooling off: IM Vladimir Dobrov, Anna Sharevich and WIM Luiza Khusnutdinova

(10) Ikonomopoulou,M (1610) - Kasioura,F (2007) [B40]
Athens Acropolis WGM (7), 2003 [Medium]

White to play
The Greek amateur, 400 points weaker than her opponent, played an elegant combination to take the full point. Would you have spotted the moves that win decisive material by force?


GM Alik Gershon (ISR), who scored 7/9 but only ended up fourth

(11) Makka,I (2275) - Stiri,A (2172) [B40]
Athens Acropolis WGM (8), 2003 [Medium]

Black to play
White, a nineteen-year-old Greek player, has moved her pawn from f2 to f3, hoping to relieve the tremendous pressure she is under. Unfortunately the move was a deadly error, which Black punished severely.


WGM Yelena Dembo of Israel, who came second in the Women's section

(12) Khurtsidze,N (2440) - Krivec,J (2268) [D27]
Athens Acropolis WGM (9), 2003 [Medium]

Black to play
A pawn up and in no short-term trouble, Black could play some non-committal move (28...Nb8 would have been perfectly acceptable). Instead the 23-year-old Slovenian Jana Krivec played the fatal 28...e5 in the above position. Why "fatal"?


Anna Sharevich of Bulgaria and Vera Papadopoulou of Greece, who scored
six points to earn a Women's International Masters norm.

(13) Dobrov,V (2469) - Mihailidis,A (2206) [D45]
Athens Acropolis Open (2), 2003 [Medium]

Black to play
In the above position White has just played the brutal 26.Bd3-f5, simultaneously attacking a black queen and rook. Good enough to win? What is the instant refutation?


Ioannis Simeonidis (GRE) vs GM Boris Avrukh (ISR). In the background
GM Eduards Rozentalis (LTU) vs Konstantinos Skaperdas (GRE)

(14) Sismanis,A (2085) - Pantazopoulos,S (2076) [A59]
Athens Acropolis Open (3), 2003 [Medium]

White to play
Black has just moved his knight from b6 to d5, with a discovered attack on the white queen. How should White best ward off the threat? (The position reminds us of a famous game between Capablanca and George Thomas).


The best Greek women at the Open: Maria Ikonomopoulou (3rd), Marina Makropoulou (2nd) und Vera Papadopoulou (1st); the best Greek men: IM Andreas Kofidis (2nd), Spyridon Kapnisis (1st) and GM Spyridon Skembris (3rd)

(15) Abatzidis,S (2083) - Poteas,I (2152) [C10]
Athens Acropolis Open (7), 2003 [Medium]

Black to play
White has just moved his king from b1 to a2. That, it turns out, was a fatal error, allowing Black a quick win. Can you work out the line that leads to a forced mate?


WGM Natalia Kiseleva caught in front of the lens at the Acropolis

(16) Koukoufikis,A (2158) - Kofidis,A (2434) [B07]
Athens Acropolis Open (7), 2003 [Medium]

Black to play
How about a tactical endgame? Black has good winning chances, but there is one line, which was found by Kofidis, that clinched the full point very quickly. What would you play in this position?

Photo report by Natalia Kiseleva
Tactics by Frederic Friedel

Here are the above tactic problems as a zipped PDF file
for viewing and printing with Adobe Acrobat

Solutions
Note that you can click on the moves to follow the games

Who is that girl?

Last month we posted a report proclaiming that Jennifer Shahade, 22, the 2002 U.S. Women's Champion, was the strongest American-born female chess player in history. Recently we got a letter drawing our attention to a small error in the report:

The simple fact, the letter stated, is that there is another player who is by far the strongest American-born female chess player in history. She became a WIM at 15 and WGM at 18. She was among the ten best in the world in six consecutive women's world championships, and twice the third ranked player in the world women's rankings. This is not a record achieved by any other American-born female chess player.


To prove her point the writer sent us the above picture, which shows her (on the right) at six months together with her twin sister and mother in Flushing Meadow Park, NY.


And here is a picture of the two sisters playing serious games at a very early age. Both went on to become WGMs, the only twin grandmasters in chess history.

So who is this mysterious player, the strongest American-born female chess player ever? We will publish the answer in a separate news story in the coming week. If you think you know who the player in question is you can write to us.